


Oblivious

by Persiflage



Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Art Galleries, Bernie Wolfe: World's Okay-est Lesbian, Bernie and Jason Bonding, Canon Schmanon, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, F/F, First Kiss, Idiots in Love, Museums, OTP: You People Are Ridiculous, Oblivious, Old Married Couple - Yet Not Even Dating, POV Outsider, Prompt Fic, Serena Campbell: Bisexual Extraordinaire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 03:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30099912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Canon Divergence: Jason observes Bernie and Serena behaving like an old married couple, yet they're not even dating.
Relationships: Jason Haynes & Bernie Wolfe, Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Comments: 13
Kudos: 81





	Oblivious

**Author's Note:**

> I posted a list of [Intimacy Prompts](https://pers-books.tumblr.com/post/644786158056996864/intimancy-prompts) and invited people to pick one or two for me to write. An Anon offered me 9 - watching movies / tv shows, 13 - cuddles and 14 - sharing drinks with the additional request: _just them being oblivious idiots doing all domestic stuffs and being basically “married” without realizing it. Thanks :)_

Jason walks back into the sitting room after fetching himself a drink and glances over at the sofa where his Aunty Serena and her friend Doctor Bernie have been sitting all evening watching episodes of World’s Strongest Man, Countdown, and the latest Mary Beard documentary with him. He’d expected them to be talking, so is surprised when he sees that Aunty Serena has her head on Doctor Bernie’s shoulder and her eyes are closed. Doctor Bernie catches his eye and puts a finger to her lips, which he knows means he must be quiet. 

“Is Aunty Serena asleep?” he asks in his quietest voice as he seats himself in his armchair.

Doctor Bernie nods. “Worn out, poor thing. It’s been a very tiring day.”

“Wouldn’t she be more comfortable sleeping in her own bed?” asks Jason, confused.

Doctor Bernie chuckles softly. “Undoubtedly. Don’t worry, if she hasn’t woken up by the time this episode of Mary Beard finishes, I’ll take her upstairs.”

“You could take her now,” suggests Jason.

“But I don’t want to interfere with your viewing schedule,” Doctor Bernie says, “and I do want to see the rest of this episode.”

“Okay.”

Jason reaches for the remote control and starts the programme again; it’s nice that Doctor Bernie understands his preference for sticking to schedules and he knows that someone else, someone who didn’t understand, would probably have insisted he wait to watch the rest of the episode while they got Aunty Serena upstairs. Doctor Bernie Wolfe is a nice person and he really likes having her around. He knows Aunty Serena does, too. 

When the episode's finished, Aunty Serena is still asleep, so Jason offers to show Doctor Bernie where her bedroom is so that she can carry her upstairs.

“Won’t it hurt your back?” he asks, belatedly remembering that Aunty Serena had mentioned that Doctor Bernie had a bad back because she got blown up in Afghanistan.

“It’ll be fine, Jason.”

He nods. “Are you going to stay here tonight?”

She frowns at him as she eases Aunty Serena into an upright position. “I wasn’t planning to,” she says, then gets to her feet. “Do you think I should?”

Jason nods vigorously. “Aunty Serena usually locks up and does other things downstairs that I don’t know about because she does them after I’ve gone upstairs to my room. If you’re staying you can do them for her. Otherwise, I’ll have to leave them not done or wake her up.”

“Well, I guess I can stay. I keep a kitbag with emergency supplies in it in my car boot.”

“Good,” Jason says firmly. “You can have the room next to mine. It’s a guest room. Aunty Serena keeps them made up in case anyone needs to crash in one.” He frowns. “I’m not sure why people would need to crash into a room, though. Wouldn’t it hurt?”

Doctor Bernie chuckles softly. “That’s not what it means, Jason. To crash somewhere just means to sleep somewhere unscheduled.”

“Oh.” He watches as Doctor Bernie lifts Aunty Serena from the sofa, then leads the way into the hall and upstairs. “That’s Aunty Serena’s room,” he tells her, pointing to the right door. “This is the guest room next to mine.” He pushes the door open so that she’ll know.

“Thank you, Jason.”

“Please try not to make a mess in the bathroom,” he asks. “We usually have breakfast at 8am on a Saturday.”

“Okay.” Doctor Bernie gives him a smile and he nods at her, then turns and heads towards his own bedroom.

He’s made use of the bathroom and is lying in bed by the time he hears Doctor Bernie going downstairs again. He hears the front door open, then a few moments later it closes again. He’s half asleep when he hears Doctor Bernie coming back upstairs and he hopes she won’t make too much noise or mess in the bathroom. It should feel strange having someone else in the house, but somehow it doesn’t – he’s not sure why, but he feels safer having Doctor Bernie here, too. 

That thought is confusing, so he decides not to think about it and to go to sleep.

*

The next morning, he wakes up at the usual time of 7.30am and goes into the bathroom. It’s as tidy as he left it last night, which is satisfying, if somewhat surprising since Cousin Elinor, on the rare occasions that she’s been home since he moved in, always leaves some slight disarrangement of his things. He shrugs the thought off in order to concentrate on getting dressed and getting ready for the day. He’s hoping that Aunty Serena will take him to Holby Museum and Art Gallery later as there’s a new exhibition on that he wants to visit.

When he arrives downstairs he’s pleased to see Aunty Serena is already there, making a pot of coffee, and Doctor Bernie is there too. She is dressed whereas Aunty Serena is still wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown.

“Honestly, Serena, a mug of coffee’s fine. I’ll get some breakfast at home.” Doctor Bernie smiles at Jason as he walks into the kitchen. “Good morning, Jason. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes thank you, Doctor Bernie. Did you?”

Her smile gets bigger. “I did, thanks. The bed in Serena’s guest room is extremely comfortable.”

“Thank you for not messing up the bathroom when you used it.”

Doctor Bernie chuckles. “I was very, very careful not to.”

He gives her a nod then turns to Aunty Serena, who is fiddling with her pendant before carrying the coffee pot over to the table. “Good morning Aunty Serena.”

“Good morning Jason.”

“Did you sleep okay?” he asks.

“Very well, thank you.” She pours two mugs of coffee, then gestures at Doctor Bernie. “Sit down, Major. I’m making breakfast.”

Doctor Bernie chuckles, then pulls out a chair and sits down next to Aunty Serena’s seat. Jason is already sitting opposite them and helps himself to a bowl of cereal. He watches as Aunty Serena gets out bacon and other things from the cupboards and the fridge. 

“Are you sure I can’t help, Serena?” Doctor Bernie asks.

“Certainly not. You’re my guest.”

“So formal,” Doctor Bernie says, with something in her voice that makes Jason think she’s going to laugh. “I thought I was a friend?”

“You are,” Aunty Serena says immediately. “You’re my very best friend.”

“Well then, let me help.”

Aunty Serena sighs, shakes her head, then says, “If I don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it, will I?”

Doctor Bernie laughs softly. “I wouldn’t say that, but, well, you know me, Serena. I don’t like to be idle.”

Aunty Serena laughs. “No. Proper little Action Woman, aren’t you?”

Doctor Bernie grins at her and gets up quickly. “Why don’t you slice the bread and I’ll sort out the bacon?”

“Can you fry bacon without burning it?”

“Oi!” 

Jason watches in bemusement as Doctor Bernie hits Aunty Serena on the arm, who laughs, then leans against Doctor Bernie, her face looking really happy, happier than he’s ever seen her looking before. Doctor Bernie wraps an arm around her shoulders and squeezes, then says, “This bacon’s not going to cook itself, so I’d better get onto it. That’s if you think you can trust me not to set fire to it?”

Aunty Serena laughs again. “Go on then, Major. Let’s see your famous bacon frying skills in action.”

“Did I say they were famous bacon frying skills?” Doctor Bernie asks, cutting open the packet of bacon, then putting the frying pan on the cooker and turning it on. He watches as Doctor Bernie heats some fat in the frying pan, then adds a couple of rashers of bacon, prodding at them with a thing that he remembers Aunty Serena told him is called a spatula.

“Do you want some bacon, Jason?” Doctor Bernie asks as she flips the two rashers of bacon over to cook the other side.

“No thank you, Doctor Bernie.”

“Okay.” She gives him a smile that makes him think of his mother, for some reason. He looks away from her and frowns as he tries to work out why Doctor Bernie would remind him of his mother when Aunty Serena is his mother’s sister. He remembers, then, that he had felt safe last night, having Doctor Bernie in the house, and that is something else he cannot understand.

He’s still thinking about it when Doctor Bernie touches the back of his hand and he looks up, startled, to see her looking at him in concern.

“Are you okay, Jason?” 

He nods. “I was thinking,” he says. 

“What were you thinking about, love?” asks Aunty Serena.

The two of them are sitting on the other side of the table with bacon sandwiches, no, butties they’re called, although he’s not sure why.

“Last night, when Doctor Bernie was staying here, I felt really safe.”

“I didn’t know that you didn’t feel safe living here,” Aunty Serena says, fiddling with her pendant. Doctor Bernie puts her hand over Aunty Serena’s other hand, which is on the table between them, and he sees her squeeze Aunty Serena’s fingers.

“I do feel safe here,” Jason says quickly. “Much safer than when I was living in that other place after my mum died.” He frowns. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I can’t explain what I meant.”

“It’s okay, Jason,” Doctor Bernie says, reaching across the table to touch his hand with the hand that’s not holding Aunty Serena’s hand. “Feelings are hard, sometimes.”

“I like you,” he tells her. “You’re kind and you help people. You look after Aunty Serena and let her fall asleep on your shoulder. You’re strong and smart and you make me feel safe.”

Doctor Bernie’s face is pink and her eyes look wet, as if she’s going to cry, but she doesn’t. She nods, smiles, then says, “Thank you Jason. I like you, too. You’re incredibly kind and help people, too. I see you every day at the hospital, looking after the patients. And you’re very smart – you certainly beat me at Countdown.” She pats his hand before she takes her hand away.

“I think you should stay in the guest room again,” he declares.

Bernie laughs, then starts eating her bacon butty. “I’d like that, Jason,” she tells him between bites. “That bed’s far more comfortable than mine.”

Aunty Serena is eating her bacon butty now and it’s only as Jason gets up to put his empty cereal bowl on the counter, ready to go into the dishwasher once everyone’s finished eating, that he notices that Doctor Bernie is still holding Aunty Serena’s hand. He wonders if he should say something, then decides they must know that they’re still holding hands. He puts two slices of bread into the toaster, then finds the Oxford orange marmalade which Aunty Serena buys specially for him. 

“Can we go to the Holby Museum and Art Gallery later?” he asks as he waits for the bread to toast. “There’s a new exhibition on that I want to see.”

“What’s the exhibition about?” asks Doctor Bernie.

“It’s called _Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing_.”

“That sounds interesting,” Doctor Bernie says. “Mind if I tag along?” She looks at Aunty Serena. “Or I could take Jason if you’ve other plans? If that’s alright with Jason?”

“I don’t mind if you take me, Doctor Bernie. I don’t mind if you tag along if Aunty Serena takes me.” He frowns at her. “Do you have other plans?”

“Other than the usual weekend ones: laundry, grocery shopping, gardening if the weather isn’t too wet.”

Everyone looks out the window at the sunshine bathing the back garden. 

“How about I take Jason, then?” Bernie suggests. “And if you give me your shopping list, we can stop off at the supermarket on the way home. Then you can get some laundry started before doing some gardening.”

Aunty Serena looks surprised by the suggestion, although Jason’s not sure why. It sounds very sensible to him. 

“Are you sure?” she asks Doctor Bernie. “It’s going above and beyond.”

Doctor Bernie frowns. “How so?” 

“Jason’s not your responsibility,” Aunty Serena says.

“Fairly sure he’s not yours, either, technically,” Doctor Bernie says. “He’s a grown man and therefore responsible for himself, just as your Ellie’s a grown woman and responsible for herself. If Jason needs a lift and doesn’t mind me tagging along with him, I’m happy to take him. Might do me good to go and look at an art exhibition.” She grins at Aunty Serena, then turns to Jason. “What do you think, Jason? Could you bear to have my company for the exhibition?”

“Yes, please,” he says eagerly, because he really does want to go and see the exhibition, which finishes next week. “Is that okay, Aunty Serena?”

“As has been pointed out, you’re a grown man,” she says. “You can go with whomever you want.”

Jason watches as Doctor Bernie slides her hand over Aunty Serena’s, then picks it up. “You could come, too,” she says. “Might do you some good to go and look at an art exhibition, too.”

Aunty Serena shakes her head. “You two go, if you’re okay keeping each other company.”

“I’d like to go with you, Doctor Bernie, please, if Aunty Serena is too busy.”

“That’s settled, then. Do you have a shopping list?”

“It’s over there,” Jason says, pointing out the shopping list pad. “I always write it.”

“You’d better take my car,” Aunty Serena says. “Your dinky little sportscar won’t hold everything.”

Doctor Bernie says, “Oi.” Then pokes Aunty Serena in the arm and she pokes back.

“It’s true. There’s no way you’ll fit everything in the boot of your car.”

“Fine.” Doctor Bernie shakes her head, then turns to look at Jason. “If you prefer, you can wait in the car while I do the shopping.”

“I’ll come shopping with you, Doctor Bernie,” Jason says immediately.

“Okay.” She looks from Jason to Aunty Serena. “Are we set, then?”

“I need to get my notebook and pens,” Jason says.

“Alright.” Doctor Bernie gives him a smile and he smiles back, then goes out. As he reaches the end of the hall and the stairs he looks back and sees Doctor Bernie leaning back against the counter and Aunty Serena standing in between Doctor Bernie’s feet. He sees that they’re talking, but too quietly for him to hear their words. He wonders if they’re dating each other. It would explain the hand holding and the way that Doctor Bernie let Aunty Serena fall asleep on her shoulder last night. He thinks he might ask Doctor Bernie later.

* 

The exhibition is every bit as interesting as Jason had hoped and he’s really pleased that Doctor Bernie doesn’t try to hurry him; instead, she keeps pace with him and sometimes he takes longer to look at something than she does, but that’s okay because sometimes she takes longer to look at something than he does. Once they’ve finished with the exhibition they go into the Museum’s gift shop and she buys some fridge magnets for Aunty Serena’s fridge door, and some notebooks and pens for her children. Jason buys himself a matching notebook and pen, a poster, and a big illustrated hardback book about Leonardo da Vinci. Then they go into the Museum coffeeshop for a drink and a bun to ‘fortify themselves’ Doctor Bernie tells him before they go shopping. 

As they’re walking to the car park Doctor Bernie’s phone starts ringing and she stops to answer it, telling him that it’s Aunty Serena. “She’s probably just remembered something that’s not on the shopping list,” she says, her eyes twinkling in a way that makes him think she might laugh in another moment.

They walk over to the car and Doctor Bernie presses the beeper on the car key to unlock it so Jason climbs in. Doctor Bernie leans her bottom against the bonnet of Aunty Serena’s car, and he hears her laughing, then speaking again, but her voice is too quiet to hear the words. 

She moves around the car and climbs into the driver’s seat, fastening her seat belt and starting the engine. “Serena’s invited me to stay and have dinner with you both tonight and to stay over again tonight.”

“Good,” Jason says. “I like having you to stay.”

“Thank you, Jason. I enjoyed staying last night.” She rests her arm along the back of the passenger seat, leaning sideways and turning to look over her shoulder as she reverses the car out of its parking space. “Right then, let’s go and get those groceries and hope that late on a Saturday morning isn’t a busy time.”

“Aunty Serena usually goes shopping about eleven o’clock and it’s usually not too busy then.”

“Good to know.” 

Once they’re at the supermarket, Doctor Bernie grabs a trolley and tells him that she will push it if he loads it. He feels immensely proud when she gives him the list and suggests that he’ll need it if he’s getting things off the shelves. 

“Although I daresay you know what’s on the list without checking it. Still, better to have it to hand then we’ll be sure of not missing anything.”

“I agree, Doctor Bernie. You’re very logical.”

She chuckles. “Thank you, Jason.”

He feels a little alarmed when he sees her putting something into the trolley that’s not on his list, but she explains that she wants to get some shopping for herself.

“Might as well do it while I’m here then I won’t have to come back again later,” she tells him.

“That is also very logical,” Jason says, and they smile at each other before continuing.

Once the shopping is complete, Doctor Bernie asks Jason if he’ll mind stopping off at her house so that she can unload her shopping there. “That way I don’t have to clutter up Serena’s fridge freezer with my chilled and frozen items,” she explains.

“Okay.”

He agrees to stay in the car, looking at his da Vinci book, while Doctor Bernie quickly ‘nips inside’ with her shopping as she tells him she’ll only be a few minutes. 

“I’ll just put the cold and frozen stuff away,” she tells him. “The rest can wait until I get home tomorrow.”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Jason assures her.

“You’re a patient fellow,” Doctor Bernie tells him, giving him a big smile, before she climbs out of Aunty Serena’s car and gets the bags of her shopping from the boot. 

When she returns she climbs into the driver’s seat, puts on her seat belt, then asks, “Is that book as interesting as it looks?”

“It is very interesting,” he tells her. “Thank you for taking me to the exhibition.”

“I was happy to take you,” she says. “You know, any time that you want to do something like that again, you can always ask me to take you if Serena’s busy.”

“Are we friends?” he asks.

“Yes, of course,” she says immediately, looking surprised. “At least, I assumed we were. Perhaps I shouldn’t have assumed, perhaps I should have asked.”

“I would like us to be friends,” he tells her.

“Then we are friends.”

“Thank you.”

They reach Aunty Serena’s quite quickly after leaving Doctor Bernie’s house. “I didn’t know you lived so close by,” he tells her.

“Oh, yes. Just around the corner. Although I didn’t know your Aunty Serena when I bought this house. Well, we’d chatted a couple of times, but I still was working on Keller at the time and as we weren’t really friends, I had no idea she lived only a few minutes away.”

Aunty Serena opens the front door as they’re getting the bags of shopping out of the boot and they carry them into the house together.

“Lunch?” asks Aunty Serena as she takes a couple of bags from Jason and another from Doctor Bernie.

“I could murder a cuppa,” Doctor Bernie declares as they all set the bags of shopping down on the kitchen table.

“Why don’t you make yourself a cup of tea while Jason and I put the shopping away?” suggests Aunty Serena. “We know where everything goes, after all.”

“Okay. Anyone else want one?”

“No thank you, Doctor Bernie,” Jason says, reaching into one of the shopping bags and taking out some packets of cereal.

“Serena?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll have one after lunch, thanks.”

“Okay.” Doctor Bernie puts some water into the kettle, then switches it on before getting out a mug and Jason watches closely to make sure she doesn’t take one of his two mugs. He relaxes when he sees she’s grabbed one that Aunty Serena favours which says ‘World’s Greatest Surgeon’ on it, which he knows Fletch gave her for AAU’s Secret Santa last year. When Doctor Bernie spots Jason watching she winks at him, putting a finger to her lips. He’s puzzled by the gesture but he doesn’t say anything. 

When Aunty Serena spots which mug Doctor Bernie is using she tuts at her, then says, “The cheek.” 

Doctor Bernie grins. “Are you saying I’m not the World’s Greatest Surgeon, Campbell?” 

Aunty Serena rolls her eyes, then she grabs Doctor’s Bernie’s wrist and brings the mug to her mouth to drink some of the tea.

“Hey!” Doctor Bernie exclaims. “That’s my tea. You said you didn’t want any.”

“Yes, but it’s _my_ mug,” Aunty Serena says in that firm tone of voice that Jason knows means he shouldn’t argue with her; she’s only used it on him a couple of times since he’s known her, but he’s heard her use it on the ward sometimes.

Jason remembers the question that he was going to ask Doctor Bernie earlier. “Are you two dating?”

Doctor Bernie makes a choking noise, then starts coughing, and Aunty Serena grabs the mug from her, then thumps her on the back until Doctor Bernie gently pushes her away. Jason watches as Aunty Serena fills a glass with water and holds it out to Doctor Bernie.

Eventually she stops coughing, takes the glass from Aunty Serena, and sips the water slowly, and the redness in her cheeks fades away. 

“Why did you ask if we’re dating, love?” asks Aunty Serena, looking quickly at him before she goes back to watching Doctor Bernie.

“Last night you fell asleep with your head on Doctor Bernie’s shoulder, then she carried you up to your room. You were holding hands this morning, and you often stand close together when you’re talking with your arms and shoulders touching. You bicker and tease each other like the married couples on television. And sometimes Doctor Bernie looks like she wants to kiss you.”

Doctor Bernie quickly puts the glass of water down on the counter, then says, “I’m really sorry, Serena. I didn’t think I was being so obvious, I –”

“Shh, you silly goose,” says Aunty Serena, then she steps right in front of Doctor Bernie and puts a hand on her shoulder, before leaning in and kissing her.

Jason looks away, busying himself with putting away the last few items of shopping and hopes they won’t spend too long kissing as it’s nearly lunchtime.

“Are you dating now, then?” he asks once they finally move away from each other and Aunty Serena starts folding up the cotton reusable shopping bags.

“I suppose we are,” she says. “But I’d rather you didn’t tell everyone at the hospital.”

“Why?” asks Jason, confused.

“Because people will gossip and I don’t like gossip,” Aunty Serena says. 

“Also, some people might be nasty,” Doctor Bernie says.

“Why?” asks Jason again.

“Because some people think that same sex relationships are wrong or disgusting.”

Jason sighs. “That’s silly.”

“I know, love,” Aunty Serena sighs. “But could you please not tell anyone?”

“Very well.” He smiles at Doctor Bernie. “I’m glad you’re dating Aunty Serena. You’re much nicer than Robbie the policeman.”

She smiles. “Thank you, Jason.”


End file.
